DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: Pursuant to a directive of the Committee on Government Operations, the staff of the committee developed information, during the present session of the Congress, in the following four areas of scientific documentation and information processing:

1. The present status of systems and equipment, relating to assembling, translating, indexing, abstracting, storing, processing, retrieving, and disseminating scientific and technological information, now in operation or being developed within Federal agencies considered to be most active in science and technology.

2. Programs already developed or being perfected to modernize systems of mechanized information processing and retrieval, by recognized authorities operating in this field outside of the Government.

3. Descriptive data relative to the latest and most proficient mechanized systems and machines now available or being developed for the improvement of Federal scientific information retrieval operations, from representative designers and manufacturers of automation equipment.

4. Reports from certain selected private industries as to progress they have made in perfecting information retrieval systems designed to meet their own needs, with recommendations for improvement of Federal operations in this area.

A draft of the proposed staff report was prepared, under the committee directive, after consultations with representatives of Federal agencies and private industry who are active in the above-outlined areas, which was then submitted to the agencies and industries cooperating in this study for editing and additional comments. A committee print of the original draft with suggested corrections was also forwarded to all contributors for their further review.

To illustrate the need for and general public approval of this document, the following excerpts are quoted from letters addressed to Mr. Walter L. Reynolds, Staff Director of the committee, by most of the participating groups and others interested in the document:

Atomic Energy Commission

Mr. Melvin S. Day, Director of the Office of Technical Information, Division of Information Services:

You have done an excellent job of joining the many fragments of this important story and have brought into focus the problems that remain. I greatly appreciate your kind reference to the AEC's information program. * * * Your excellent report is a major step forward in the development of efficient, timely and completely effective scientific information documentation program for the United States.

Margaret L. Pflueger, Chief, Information Section, Reference and Analysis Branch, Office of Technical Information Extension:

Because of the widespread interest in this document within our organization, we would appreciate receiving six additional copies or as many as you can spare.

Bio-Sciences Information Exchange (Smithsonian Institution) Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution: I find it a most interesting and worthwhile effort which will help us clarify a subject now under discussion in many agencies. *** On the whole the comments with reference to the Bio-Sciences Information Exchange are fair statements of the operations of the Exchange. *** With appreciation for your thoughtfulness in providing this proof and my heartiest congratulations on the splendid work of your staff,

***

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Dr. Frank B. Rogers, Director, National Library of Medicine: Thank you for the copy of the committee print on "Documentation, Indexing, and Retrieval of Scientific Information." It is a very useful instrument, and I would appreciate it if you can make six copies available to us, so that the division chiefs of the National Library of Medicine may each have a desk copy.

The Library of Congress

Dr. L. Quincy Mumford, Librarian of Congress:

I am sure that the report will be of immense value and interest to various groups concerned with the dissemination of technical information in this country.

Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hamer, Assistant Librarian for Public Affairs:

Many thanks for sending me a copy of your very impressive report. You and your staff have yourselves created quite a hunk of documentation. It is bound to be widely useful. We appreciate your fine cooperation with us in making some revisions in the draft.

National Science Foundation

Mr. Ralph E. O'Dette, Office of Science Information Service:

I trust that the report may be made available for general distribution because if the interested reader will take time to review the entire document he will find a wealth of information and opinion that in the aggregate gives a very useful and current view of this complex and important subject. I am particularly anxious, as soon as the report can be made available, to obtain sufficient copies for distribution to the members of the Science Information Council to which I am secretary.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mr. Bertram A. Mulcahy, Director of Technical Information:

We are looking forward to the release of the information that the committee staff has been compiling on the various

systems that are being developed for managing collections
of technical and scientific information. An extensive com-
pilation of this type should be valuable in establishing a
proper perspective from which potential users may view the
various available systems. *** We expect that we will
derive substantial benefit from the various opinions that you
are gathering, and commend you for the catalytic effect your
program is having in the field.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Mr. Foster E. Mohrhardt, Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Library:

Although I have not had an opportunity to read all of the articles, I am impressed with the broad scope and with the excellence of the information provided. I hope that the committee will issue the report as a printed document.

If you have two more copies available of the committee print, I would very much like to have them. I received a request this week from Professor Tauber of the Library School at Columbia University who is very anxious to have up-to-date information in this field for courses he is giving this summer at Berkeley, Calif. I am sure that the report will give him exactly the information he desires.

National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Karl F. Heumann, Director, Office of Documentation:

This excellent survey should put documentalists in your
debt.

American Institute of Biological Sciences
Dr. Hiden T. Cox, Executive Director:

A short while ago my office requested several copies of
your interesting committee print on "Documentation, In-
dexing, and Retrieval of Scientific Information." We distrib-
uted these copies to members of our Communications Study
Group and I now have in hand several letters commenting
upon the committee print. Most of the expressions are
extremely complimentary of the completeness and thorough-
ness of the document.
My own reaction to the com-
mittee print is that it is excellent and represents a monu-
mental piece of work on your part and that of your staff.
Bell Telephone Laboratories

** *

Mr. W. K. Lowry, manager, Technical Information Libraries:

The report as a whole represents another useful survey resulting from your committee's activities and as such will be of much interest to those concerned with scientific information problems.

Chemical Abstracts

Dr. D. B. Baker, Director, the Chemical Abstracts Service:

In our opinion the committee staff comments were factual, well expressed, and analytical. It is encouraging to see this kind of interest and consideration. I am sure that th

report will be extremely helpful to all who review it. I
especially felt that the National Science Foundation section
was well written and will prove to be useful as general
operating policy.

In final, may I express the hope that the work of your com-
mittee will not be abandoned after this report. With the
rapid developments in this field, it would seem desirable to
reevaluate the position of our country every 6 months or
year and try to determine the proper course and climate for
the science information work to progress. ***

We, of course, will plan to work closely with the Office of Scientific Information of the National Science Foundation and should be glad to report to your committee in the future, any considerations which may be given to these documentation and retrieval problems. Again, I would like to express appreciation in behalf of all of us concerned for the outstanding summary of a very difficult subject. You have our best wishes for continued successful endeavors in this work. Documentation, Inc.

Mr. Mortimer Taube, president:

The seriousness and studied care with which this report
has been prepared is most impressive. You and your staff
are to be congratulated upon having carried out a difficult
assignment in a troubled and complicated area.
Again, may I congratulate you and your staff on a job well
done.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Mr. Eugene Wall, engineering department:

***

I have received the proof of the draft of your report and wish to congratulate you on a job well done. This is a monumental work; it certainly deserves most careful consideration by the Congress.

May I say that I am particularly impressed with the clear thinking exhibited in the AEC contribution. I am very encouraged when I read of approaches such as are outlined by AEC. Perhaps the less said the better concerning some (but, of course, not all) of the other contributions.

Esso Research & Engineering Co.

Mr. W. T. Knox, director, technical information division:

The report, in general, appears to be an excellent summary of a very complex subject, and you and your staff are to be commended for its preparation.

Eastman Kodak Co. (Recordak Corp.)

Mr. J. M. Arnold, president and general manager of Recordak Corp. and his representatives, together with representatives of Eastman Kodak Co. held a lengthy conference with members of the staff on May 2, 1960. All of these men commended the report and its contents in the highest terms.

Mr. Arnold later wrote, as follows:

Thank you for sending us a copy of the committee print of your staff report on "Documentation, Indexing and Retrieval of Scientific Information." We are quite pleased with the revisions as well as with the inclusion of the additional information we submitted with respect to our various photographic systems pertinent to the field of document storage and retrieval.

General Electric Co.

Mr. C. C. Lasher, general manager, computer department:

I would like to commend the committee on their very outstanding work. This report will be of major benefit to governmental agencies, industry, and educational institutions.

*** Your committee report is most interesting, and I hope you will include General Electric in your general distribution should it be revised and printed.

International Business Machines Corp.

Mr. John M. Kinn, Jr., scientific information:

When the report is finally published, we would very much appreciate receiving ten extra copies of the report, so that we may distribute them to the participants of the conference. Mr. G. W. Petrie, advanced systems development division, IBM: Thank you very kindly for the committee print of your staff report on "Documentation, Indexing, and Retrieval of Scientific Information." This report certainly is a great service in placing in one document the current status of information and interest of the many segments of the Government, the Nation's learned societies, and industry. We were certainly pleased to help to contribute to it and wish to offer our continued support of your project. Please feel free to call upon us at any time.

Dr. Joel D. Aron, manager, applied science:

Your survey of activities in the Government and in industry is both instructive and informative. The material will certainly be of use to our personnel in continuing our program to assist IBM users in the organization of their scientific information. We were particularly impressed by the number of reports indicating the emphasis the agencies are placing on data processing equipment in the solution of retrieval problems.

Itek Corp.

Mr. D. P. Waite, manager, research programs:

You will note, too, that we are substituting a much more comprehensive diagram for figure 1. There is considerable technical meat in this diagram which we originally felt might be too advanced in comparison to other material in the report. It is now clear that this is not the case. In my opinion, you have gotten a wealth of good information together

*